California Sen. Kamala Harris announced Monday she will boycott the UC Berkeley graduation, where she was supposed to deliver the keynote address, because of a labor strike.

“If we are going to live up to our ideals as a nation, it’s critical we focus on economic equality and economic justice,” Harris tweeted. “One key is making sure everyone has access to a good job, with fair wages, and safe working conditions.”

Students will have to be content with hearing the campus chancellor, Carol Christ, speak on Saturday morning instead.

Thousands of service workers with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFSCME, walked off the job at all 10 UC campuses Monday in protest of what they said was the University of California’s practice of hiring contractors and displacing longtime employees.

Graduating seniors say they understand the union’s point of view — but are still disappointed.

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“I was just looking forward to hearing from a California senator, a woman of color senator, and I’ve heard potentially that she’s runing for president,” said Charlotte Cordova, 22, who will receive her bachelor’s degree in media studies on Saturday morning. “I was curious to see what she’s had to say — and so were my friends, Democrats and Republicans.”

Union leaders said they have reached out to other keynote speakers on other campuses, including U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who is scheduled to speak at UC San Diego, but have not heard back from them.